The world is changing.

It’s a fact of human existence going back since…well, forever. It’s true in farming, in cooking, the making soap and the marketing of novelty products of every stripe and caliber. Everything changes. And now it seems to be case with publishing.

Consider the following paradox…last year the publishing industry contracted, and yet more books were published in America than ever before. Editorial staffers are being laid off ;left and right, opportunities for the kind of old-fashioned deals that brought us the likes of Robert Jordan or George R.R. Martin or even Stephanie Meyer seem to be going the way of the dodo. Unless you’re a guaranteed bestseller, it seems no one was to take a look at a new author….and yet more of them are getting their stuff out there than ever before. What’s happening to publishing, at least from my perspective, is the same thing that happened to the music industry. Technology has opened the doors. Editors who used to be the middlemen are being cut out by authors who can now take their work directly to the reading public. The gatekeepers have found that the gates no longer exist.

For the first time, it seems, self-publishing is now seen as a viable alternative. True, there is still a stigma attached to authors who put out their own work….lots of writers sites advise against it, calling it a scam, a frustrating waste of time, that it will tarnish your name to that now real publisher will ever consider you….all valid points. But consider the following:

The advantages of going to a publisher might be more imagined than real…to my mind, if I’m going to put my book out through a traditional publishing house, which will take up to 70 percent of all the profits that come from all the blood, sweat and tears that went into creating my book, than it’s reasonable to expect they’ll put some effort into promoting it. But, or least according to the research I’ve done on the subject, most of the promotion has to be done by the authors themselves. Ad campaigns are expensive, and unless you’re a guaranteed seller they don’t have the incentive to make the effort. So you do all the work and they take the lion’s share of the profit…so why not go into business for yourself?

Another point detractors like to make is that the vast majority of books are still sold through traditional brick and mortar stores, which won’t stack self-published works. To get a lace on their shelf, you have to be a publisher’s catalog…but is that really an advantage? If you go to the local Borders of Barnes and Noble, the shelves are full of obscure paperbacks by authors you’ve never heard of that just sit there and sit there until they finally get pulled and sent back to the publisher. Unless the book is prominently placed on the endcap, who’s gonna notice?

Of course, self-publishing is hardly a walk in the park. You have to do your own publicity, your own layouts, your own cover art, your own editing. There are a lot of self-published books out there now, and far too many of them are low quality, given the entire category a bad name. Success will go to those willing to hustle, and even then it’ll likely be modest…forget about being on the NY Times bestseller list. See for what it is…freedom, both creative and financial, but in return you have to put in a LOT of hard work for an uncertain return.

But here’s the kicker…if you go the old fashioned way, through a publisher, you’ll be working just as hard, with no guarantee that you’ll sell anymore. You’ll have no control, and get even less money back.

The better of two choices, or the lesser of two evils? I; still deciding which path to follow…thoughts, comments?

Welcome to my Blog!

Welcome to my blog! My name is Jon Connington, and I'm  a guy who likes to write. Over the following days, weeks, years...centuries even, which coming medical techonology might bring within the realm of possibility, I'll be posting my thoughts on everything related to that most sublime and perfect of genres...fantasy fiction, and everything derived from it in  others forms of media and everyday life. Reality is hard...why not spend a much time as possible in an imaginary realm?

I'll also be posting my own stories here from time to time; you can also download them in PDF form from the links here as well as on my MySpace page. Share them with everybody, pass them around your friends, family, co-workers, the entire world...help get the word out! I'm also working on a novel, been working on it n fact for the last three years, eventually I'll be posting excerts here as well.

Don't be afraid to comment! If you have something to say, feel free to post it!

Well, that's about it. Let the great adventure commence....